Cayden is in the Zimbabwe,Harare Mission. He will be in Africa from the fall of 2016 until the fall 2018.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

We Bought a Blender and Ran into a Zombie Girl

I gave this little girl the Hot Wheels car a while back and she carries that car with her everywhere. Her family is super poor and she just loves her new car.

Week one done of this transfer. The area is great and we have a good amount of progressing investigators which is always nice. It's always good to feel rewarded for your hard work!

This week Elder Condie and I bought a blender and we are back to trying to build a hammock. If you remember the last hammock in our yard didn't go so well. haha

We were teaching an investigator, Jefery, in the park, and we heard yelling and swearing down the road. We then see about 12 young adult men carrying one guy into the park towards the little pond in the middle. They were making a ton of noise so I had to ask what they were doing with the guy. They said hadn't bathed in 2 weeks, so they were forcing him to bathe. They were yelling,

"He hasn't bathed in two weeks! He lives right next to water but he refuses cause he's scared of crocodiles. He needs to take a bath!"

So they carried him to the edge and just started getting him wet (with nasty pond water) and were scrubbing him. It was pretty funny to see!

People are always selling DVD's for super cheap on the side of the road. They are often movies that aren't even out of the theater yet! Found someone selling these movies on the street, I didn't know that Magic Mike was a family movie?! haha

We had district meeting in this gazebo thing.

Love this picture of me and Elder Mhlungu!

Had to take a picture with a guy wearing a Seattle Seahawks jersey. He couldn't speak English and had no idea what the Seahawks are, maybe I can make it on to the Seahwaks fan page??? Hahaha Mel ;)

We went to the bush to find a recent convert, and we felt like we should visit an old investigator who had just fallen off the face of the planet. So we went to his house, (or one room shack) and knocked on the door. Then out of the bush walks a younger girl, in her 20's. She walked around very creepily with her arms kind of like the young girl in the King Kong movie with Jack Black (the cannibal little girl). So she walks and stands about 7 feet from us and stares at us. We asked her if Nathan was home, and she didn't respond, nor move. So then the Branch missionary, Prince, spoke Shona to her, and again she didn't respond or move. Then there was this super awkward pause for about ten seconds where no one said anything and she didn't move. So I just held out a restoration pamphlet to her, she looked down at it, stared at it for a few seconds, then took it. We quickly walked away cause it was the creepiest scenario I have had as a missionary yet. We walked away very quickly and looked back just to see her staring at us all the way until we disappeared into the bush. I don't know what was wrong with her, but she seemed possessed. Even our branch missionary was freaking out and saying he had never seen a person act like that in his life. Super creepy.

People just randomly burn garbage by the side of the road.

African Churches

Street signs. One is Packiepa or something like that. It means "life is tough"

Yes...this is a sign marking a bus stop.

I had my first baptism interview as a District Leader, it brought me back to the time when I waited for Ryanne to get done with her interview! Only here it is a little different. We went to the boy's house, and his mom had locked him inside the gate, so he couldn't get out, so I interviewed him through a fence. Kind of felt like I was interviewing a prisoner hahah.

This little boy did NOT like seeing us white men... he was scared.

Priesthood donut competition
Elder Condie eating a donut... Me I'm trying to avoid breads to see if that will help my stomach issues.

*From Cayden's Companion Elder Condie*

"We were sitting in an investigator's home playing Monopoly with 3 kids that are supposed to be baptized next week. We were having a good time, until these evil, black, fanged crickets that were like... 2 feet (inches) long started flying around the house after crawling in under the door. They were really dumb, and kept flying towards the lights (like all bugs do) but when they ran into the bulbs they bounced off with a very audible "PING" and came hurtling towards the ground (and our heads) at speeds usually reserved for F-22s. The game was interrupted for a few minutes, and I actually heard a Zimbabwean squeal at the sight of a bug, until the crickets were thoroughly squished. Elder Cazier ended up winning the game, but I was unnerved for the rest of the night."

The difference between our filtered water and unfiltered water. (in our new blender)

Last thing, mamas here go by their child's name with Mai (my) in front. So for example, my moms name would be Mai Anderson. I don't know why they do that, but it's just culture!

So my stomach has been the same old same. But I am trying my best to keep a smile :) Love you all, Elder Cazier